Month: February 2005

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Labour Leader Tony Blair told the party conference in Gateshead that “I learnt that on some issues, sometimes you just have to agree to disagree, like Iraq, though hopefully now, with 8 million people in Iraq coming out to vote, we can all agree, however we got here, we should stay as long as the Iraqis want us to help ensure democracy not terror determines their future.” LFIQ brings together people who took different sides on the war but we are determined to play a positive role in assisting post-war Iraq to rebuild itself and we believe that Iraqi unions … Continue reading Tony Blair’s remarks on Iraq today

Aaron Glantz of the IPS news agency examines the position of the Christian minority in Iraq, reporting that thousands of Christians have fled Arab parts of Iraq. One man is quoted as saying that “It’s not so bad for the men, because we can blend in with the Muslims. But the women, they don’t wear Islamic headscarves.”

Stop the War leader Lindsey German explains in this week’s Socialist Worker why “Getting the troops out is still the key demand after the Iraqi election.” She says that “Every major political party had the end of the occupation as a central plank of their campaign. Therefore, you can only conclude that Iraqis voted for the troops to go.” Iraqis want the foreign troops to go but not immediately, regardless of the security situation. When will the SWP acknowledge this and stop abusing those who are trying to rebuild their country through a UN mandated process? (Gary Kent)

In yet another article in the Guardian criticising the elections, their veteran foreign correspondent Jonathan Steele argues that Iraq’s illegitimate election did not justify the invasion, nor did it make occupation popular.

Reporters without Borders says it is “extremely worried” by the abduction of the left-wing Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena of the daily Il Manifesto and called for immediate expressions of support and concern. Voicing its solidarity with her family and newspaper, the organization said action in support of Sgrena should be “immediate and massive.”

The Hak Mao blog has started selling mugs, badges and fridge magnets with the Purple Finger on it, as on the left of this web site, with the proceeds going to the IFTU and the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party

Giuliana Sgrena, a correspondent working for the largest circulation far left Italian daily paper, Il Manifesto has been kidnapped in Baghdad while carrying out interviews in the street. LFIQ hopes that she is released unharmed and urges maximum publicity on this.